Taormina to Sorrento by car in one day?

We drove from Taormina down to Messina, and missed the ferry by one car, so we (and the car just in front of us) had to wait for the next ferry. Don’t recall how long that wait took, but on the plus side, we were the second car off the ferry. The drive took a long time, but it was late December, and there was a lot of roadwork going on. We spent that night in Castrovillari, The next day, we headed towards Sorrento, but stopped at the ancient temples at Paestum for some time, and only made it to Salerno before it was going to start getting dark, and found a place to spend the night at Salerno. Next day, we arrived at Sorrento, after driving the Amalfi Coast.

So it took us more than 2 full days to reach Sorrento from the ferry. Again, this was late December, so the daylight hours were shorter, and we made sightseeing stops. Construction probably made speeds slower than if the roads were wide open. If you drove straight through with no stops, maybe you could cover more ground in less time. But will you have more traffic than we did?

Cut Taormina to one night. That would give you an extra day for travel.

Cyn, did you have any trouble renting a car that did not prohibit ferry use in the contract? Thanks.

To be honest?

Return the car in Syracuse.

You really will not need a car in Syracuse or any of the towns after, it simply becomes liability sitting in a parking lot that you have to pay for, in addition to the daily rental. Syracuse, at two nights, you will only see Syracuse/Ortigia; Taormina, is hilly and congested, and again, with two night, you will just see the town; On the drive to Sorrento, you will see nothing you won't see on the train, you will not have time to stop much.; In Sorrento, parking is at a premium, and just getting there can be a nightmare if you try the Amalfi coast; Getting to Rome from the Naples area is faster and easier by train.

For transport to Sorrento, consider the train, or flying Catania to Naples.

For what it is worth, I am not anti-car, rent one on some trips myself, but only where needed. I do agree, Palermo to Trapani, to Agrigento, to Syracuse is best done by car. For Agrigento, I would suggest staying near the coast as opposed to Agrigento itself. Lots of neat places on Booking.com

We rented from Europcar at the Palermo airport (which is many miles west of Palermo) and returned it in Sorrento. There were no restrictions or limitations to taking the car on the ferry or to the mainland. I don’t recall whether there was any fee for returning it at a different location than where we picked it up. This was in December 2012, so I can’t say what policies might be in effect now.

The airport had two rental company desks, Europcar and Sixt. On our flight to Palermo from Rome, it seemed to be us two Americans and the rest were Germans. We were the only ones who went to Europcar; the Germans all lined up at the Sixt (a German company) counter.

I agree with Paul's advice.

And Cyn's experience shows just how long that trip can take. I think 7 hours is very optimistic.

Thanks very much everyone. Gonna rethink the whole thing. Very helpful info from all of you.